Edmond North used a similar formula last year, ranking second in the team standings after the first round only to blow away the competition on the second 18 holes and cruise to its eighth consecutive championship.

Doherty is still trying to figure out the reason for the bumpy starts. Perhaps each player is trying to jump out to an early lead, he said, rather than just playing the round hole-by-hole.

“I think they all changed their mindset a little bit the first round,” the coach said, “and then they all just locked down. It can go south on you for two rounds, and fortunately, it just went the opposite.”

On the drive back to Edmond, Doherty said he planned to ask his team to be honest about what happened on those first 18 holes and what then keyed the gigantic turnaround.

And the message for Tuesday's final round will be simple and obvious: Use the second-round approach.

“I'm not going to get into any analytical thing,” Doherty said. “They know I'm not like that. They'd start laughing at me. I'll just tell them, ‘Tell me what was your thought the first round?' And I'll let them talk to me. Then I'll say ‘OK, now what was your thought the second round? Let's approach tomorrow like that.'

“That doesn't mean that they're going to shoot (a 282) again. That's unbelievable. But I think it does mean they'll just do things that they know are to their strengths. I don't want them to play safe. They wouldn't have shot 282 if they had played safe.”